


An August Half-Day

by sotheskyfalls



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, He/Him and They/Them Pronouns for Castiel (Supernatural), M/M, Meet-Cute, thrift!fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28157913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sotheskyfalls/pseuds/sotheskyfalls
Summary: It's one of the first half days of the school year, and Castiel Novak doesn't want to go home. While trying to find somewhere to go, he meets Dean Winchester, a boy his age who works at a thrift shop. One-shot in heart, two chapters in practice.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	An August Half-Day

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Cassidy and Aly on twitter!

“I understand it’s a half day and we’re all very excited to leave, but please _, please_ , take these last few minutes to think critically about your chosen character’s story arc. I don’t care if you write it in your journal today but please at least _think_ about it,” Mr. Hennessy said peevishly, turning from the SmartBoard to glare at his class. “I promise you won’t be well prepared for next week’s in-class essay if you don’t.”

Castiel Novak was probably the only person in Mr. Hennessy’s 5th Period English who was still thinking about _As You Like It._ All other eyes were on the clock above the classroom door. For all his annoyance, Castiel could have sworn he’d seen their teacher flash surreptitious glances over at the clock as well. Understandable - it was one of the last warm days in fall and everyone was itching to make the most of it. Except Cas wasn’t. Cas would have preferred to sit in class for another hour and think about his essay on Rosalind. Or practice trigonometric properties. Or run three miles in gym. Anything to avoid going home early.

It wasn’t that they didn’t like being home. They did. But Anna wouldn’t be home until 4 at the earliest, and his mother an hour after that, and they _really_ didn’t want to spend three hours alone with Jimmy Novak, who even with company could barely restrain himself from shooting suspicious glances at his child, as though trying to piece together why their head wasn’t screwed on straight and right. No thanks.

Mr. Hennessy had given up even trying to teach, so it was dead silent when the dismissal bell finally rung. Cas’s classmates shot up and out the door in a chaos of motion. They disappeared before the bell even finished ringing. Cas, however, stayed put, considering his options. He could text Hester and see if she wanted to make an ice cream run to kill some time, or take the bus into town instead and walk around (but his backpack?? what would he do with his backpack?!!) …so that wouldn’t work… really, he just wanted to stay _here_ \--

“You okay, Castiel?” Mr. Hennessy asked, breaking their train of thought. He shut off the SmartBoard and turned to face Cas, who forced a smile onto their face.

“Uh, yeah. There’s just no point in leaving yet… the hallways are probably a mess right now, and I don’t really want to get trampled,” he responded with a nervous huff of laughter. “Is it okay if I, uh, stay for a bit and finish writing my journal entry for the day?”

“Normally it would be. But I’m sorry to say I have an appointment I really can’t miss in an hour, so I’ll need you to just be careful not to get trampled,” he said with a dismissive wave. But he looked back, and he must have seen the sag in Cas’s shoulders because his eyes softened. “But plenty of teachers stay late at school every day. I’m sure you can find an open classroom.”

“Yeah, alright,” Cas said, stifling a swell of disappointment. “I’ll look around.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder and slunk out of the classroom. “Thanks anyways.”

“Next time for sure.”

Cas blew out a sigh and waded upriver into the throngs of chattering students.

\--

Thirty minutes later, Cas stood defeated at the bottom of the first-floor staircase. Not one single teacher planned on staying, it seemed. Not one teacher needed to grade papers, or rearrange room decor, or even talk briefly to students after class ended. Every single classroom Cas had seen was locked and shadowy. The school was completely empty, too - after the initial rush he met leaving the classroom, Cas barely saw anyone pass him. But if Cas was anything, he was tenacious, and so he double checked every hallway just in case.

Nothing.

And Hester was already off with Amenadiel, of course, and third wheeling them might even be worse than going home, so that was out of the picture. So they stood at the bottom of the staircase, staring at the doors and wishing desperately they had an excuse to anywhere to go but home.

A heavy door slammed shut in the hallway behind him and Castiel whirled around to see two people rounding the corner in conversation. One they didn’t recognize - a boy around his age with tousled brown hair and a leather jacket – but they definitely knew the other, a petite woman in a pink faux fur coat. Ms. Rosman, the librarian, was a close family friend and had never objected to bringing Cas home with her if they said they wanted to see her cats. They breathed a sigh of relief as the two approached.

“…but I swear it’s that diet they recommended, since I’ve only ever noticed this since I switched him over.”

“Yeah, that totally makes sense Ms. Rosman. Big red flag.”

“Yes… so I hope you can forgive me…"

“Respectfully, you’re the one doing me a favor, ma’am --”

“Ms. Rosman, hi,” Cas said, intercepting the two of them. Ms. Rosman squealed.

“Oh, Castiel!” She fluttered her arms out and enveloped him in a hug.

Cas smiled, patting her awkwardly on the back. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt your conversation.”

“No, of course not, don’t apologize.” She pulled back and held his arms at the elbows, looking into his face. “Of course you show up now. I was just telling Dean all about how much you love Tobias…”

Cas glanced uncomfortably over at the other boy – Dean -- who seemed to be struggling to hide a grin. He cleared his throat. “Yes, yes, Tobias, I was just going to ask about him actually,” he said.

“You were!?” Her eyes began to glisten over.

“Yeah, uh I was hoping I could come over to see him. Get some cat therapy, you know.”

Ms. Rosman’s expression fell. “Oh, Cas… I’m sorry, not today. Tobias hasn’t…” she paused, sighing. “Well, he hasn’t been doing his litter box duties recently, and so I finally decided I have to take him to the vet. And you know how he feels about the cat carrier, so. That’s going to be quite the process.”

Disappointment sunk into Castiel’s belly again.

“But Dean here, wonderful Dean,” she said, patting his shoulder fondly, “is letting me escape detention duty a little early so I have a bit more wiggle room.”

“Oh, no, Ms. Rosman, you’re doing me the favor. Really.” Dean smiled, and Ms. Rosman beamed back. Cas caught a breath. Dean’s eyes were brilliantly green, bright even under the harsh hallway lights. Cas realized they were staring and quickly averted their eyes.

“Dean really is just the most wonderful kid,” she said brightly. “I just don’t understand how you always manage to get yourself into detention!”

“I just love hearing about Frankie and Tobias, Ms. Rosman,” he replied good-naturedly. “It’s study hall with entertainment, what’s not to love?”

She sighed. “I’m glad you like it,” she said. “But really, I don’t need to see you every other day.”

“Every other day?” Cas asked, and immediately cringed at his clear boundary overstep. But Dean just snorted.

“Yeah, I think my teachers hate me,” he said, rubbing his neck.

“That’s not true, they just want you to do well,” said Ms. Rosman bracingly. She straightened. “I really do have to run, though. It was nice to see you, Castiel.”

“Take care, Ms. Rosman,” Cas replied.

She gave a crinkly-eyed smile to both boys and trotted out of the school doors, calling back, “I’ll tell Tobias both of you are thinking about him!”

The doors slammed shut, and momentarily Cas realized neither he nor Dean had moved. He turned to look at the other boy and found him with his head cocked to the side, green eyes staring at him. Cas’s breath caught and he quickly averted his gaze. With a sharp nod, he started to move towards the doors as well.

“Castiel’s your name? I swear I know you from somewhere.”

Cas paused and turned to face him, his heart racing for a reason he wasn’t quite yet sure he wanted to quantify. “Uh, yeah. Most people just call me Cas, though.”

“Cas!” Dean crowed, pacing forward. “Cas, I’ve definitely heard that name before!”

“You have?” Cas asked, their heart now most definitely racing. Though well-liked among their friends, Castiel wasn’t necessarily popular, and the thought of a cute stranger knowing their name brought on a multitude of feelings – all fluttery anxious feelings, but some more akin to butterflies in their stomach rather than worried knots.

“Yeah, of course,” he snapped his fingers, his face breaking into a wide smile, “I got it, I got it – you read a couple poems at that GSA meeting a few weeks back! Didn’t you write one of them or something?”

Cas blinked. “You, uh. You go to GSA meetings?”

“Yeah!” Dean responded brightly. “Well. Sometimes. I’m not really a club person,” he laughed, kicking at the ground, “but I go when I remember.”

“Oh, uh,” Cas stammered, the butterflies in his stomach multiplying. “That’s cool. That’s really cool. Do you go because you’re, uh…?” He swallowed, cutting himself off. His tongue was running away with him.

Dean was watching with a slightly incredulous look on his face.

Cas flushed. “Never mind.”

“Am I what, Cas?”

“No, nothing, I was just, uh, wondering. About something. Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter,” Cas said hastily, cursing themself for almost asking yet another intrusive question. They shot a look back at Dean’s face. He just seemed amused.

“I’m not straight, if that’s what you’re asking, Cas,” he said with a grin.

“Oh, okay,” Cas said, flustered. “I, uh. I’m sorry, I already asked one intrusive question and I didn’t want to ask another.”

“Don’t worry about it, dude,” he said, making a dismissive motion with his hands. “I genuinely don’t care. I haven’t exactly labelled myself, though. So I can’t really give you more information, but yeah, I’m not straight.”

They stood in silence for a moment. Cas didn’t know what to say.

“I wrote both of them,” he finally blurted out.

“Huh?”

“The poems,” Cas said. “I wrote both poems I read at that GSA meeting.”

Dean’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow. That’s awesome,” he said. “They were really good. Like, professional good.”

“You thought so?” Cas asked, his face brightening.

“Yeah. I mean, when I was listening, I figured they were professional, but I couldn’t find either online when I tried to look them up on my phone, so I wasn’t sure,” Dean said sheepishly.

“You tried to look them up?”

“Yeah,” Dean said. “I really liked them, I kinda wanted to put them on my wall or something.” He scratched at his neck. “I hope that’s not too weird or anything.”

Cas beamed. “No, not at all, Dean. I think that’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said about my writing. I’ll get you copies for sure if you want them!”

Dean smiled back at him. “That would be sick,” he said, and opened his mouth to say something else, but then paused and checked his watch. His face dropped. “Oh shit, I’m gonna be late to work.”

“Work? You have work right now?” Cas asked. “It isn’t even one, how would you have work at this time on a school day?”

Dean shrugged. “I picked up an extra shift. Basically extra money,” he said with a smile that looked a little forced. “I work at a thrift shop, so it isn’t that bad. Just sorting clothes with Charlie.”

Cas blinked. “Charlie?”

“You’d love her, she’s awesome. Huge nerd. Best friend I could ask for,” Dean said fondly. He paused, then turned to Cas suddenly, as though realizing something. “Hey, would you want to maybe come with? I don’t know if you’ve got anything going on later today, but what you said to Ms. Rosman… it sounded like you needed someplace to go, so I don’t know. You could hang out with us.”

Slightly stunned, Cas managed to stammer out, “Yeah, sure! Of course! Would, uh – I don’t have a bus pass, but I’ve got cash on me, so --”

“Cas.” A massive smile had broken out on Dean’s face. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got my dad’s car.”

“Oh.”

“Okay, we gotta go like, five minutes ago though,” Dean said, and grabbed Cas’s shoulder to tug them along. The swarm of butterflies in Cas’s stomach burst into flight again at his touch, but he managed to stay on his feet and run after Dean. Somehow.

The school doors swung shut heavily behind them as they burst into the warm August air.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a character who uses multiple pronouns, so if anybody has any criticism or pointers I'm all ears! Thanks for reading everyone :) Second chapter should be up within the next week!


End file.
